Modern Management: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success

Agile approaches have downplayed the role of management. Too many people say, “We don’t need no stinkin’ managers.” On the contrary. We need managers to create and refine the agile culture and create leadership capability across the organization. Without modern management, any agile transformation dies a quick and ugly death. Instead, it’s time to invite managers to change their behaviors to transform to an agile culture. Learn to see and create management excellence for your agile culture.

Transcript

1. Johanna Rothman @johannarothman www.jrothman.com Modern Management: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success
2. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Why do people think we don’t need managers in agile approaches? 2
3. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Too much of what passes for “management” has little to do with leadership and everything to do with control. 3
4. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Why Management Exists • Manage themselves before they manage anyone else • Create a harmonic whole by leading and serving others • Every organization exists for one reason: Innovation 4
5. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for All Managers 1. Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization. 2. Build empathy with the people who do the work. 3. Build a safe environment. 4. Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. 5. Encourage experiments and learning. 6. Catch people succeeding. 7. Exercise your value-based integrity. Note: I did not add transparency or communication. If you manage with these principles, you will be as transparent as is possible and you will communicate effectively. 5
6. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Resource Efficiency vs Flow Efficiency 6
7. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Our Agenda • Great managers manage themselves first (Think) • Great managers serve and lead others (Feel) • Great managers create an environment of innovation (Act) • A little about how rewards drive behavior 7
8. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 1. Great Managers Manage Themselves 8 Satir Congruence Model
9. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Congruence • Blaming: Disregard Other • Placating: Disregard Self • Super-Reasonable: Consider Only Context • Irrelevant: Consider Neither Self, Other, or Context • Congruent: Balance Self, Other and Context 9 Satir Congruence Model
10. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Manage Yourself Myths • Managers are more valuable than other people. • Managers must solve the team’s problem for them. • Managers are too valuable to take a vacation. • Managers can still do significant technical work. (Or, player-coach works.) • Managers can estimate for the team. • Managers micromanage to see state. • Managers think the team needs a cheerleader. • Managers don’t admit mistakes. • Managers can concentrate on the run. • Managers expect people to bring solutions to problems. • Managers believe in indispensable employees. (Or “10X”) 10
11. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Myths Violate Value-Based Integrity • Honesty • Fair • Consistent • Take responsibility • Treat people with respect • Create safety for yourself and others 11
12. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for Managing Yourself • Clarify your purpose. Where do you add value? • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Delegate technical work. • Build a safe environment. Admit when you don’t know. • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. Focus on the whole, not on a part. Delegate problems and outcomes. • Encourage experiments and learning. Offer coaching, not solutions. • Catch people succeeding. • Exercise your value-based integrity as a model for the people you lead and serve. 12
13. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Manage Yourself: Move from Expert to Coach 13
14. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 2. Great Managers Lead and Serve Others • “Managing” others is about leading and serving. • Leading and serving != directing and controlling 14
15. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman People Remember How They Felt • Think back to the best manager you had. How did you feel when you worked there? • Do you remember the work or the teams? • Take just one of your terrible managers. How did you feel when you worked there? • Do you remember any of the work, except to remember how you felt about it? 15
16. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Outdated Management Assumptions Color Management Actions • People can do the job • People can master the challenges • People can take responsibility for the work and the relationships • … and more • People might need support or training, but they can. • People live up or down to your expectations of them 16
17. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Theory Y Thinking Enables Management Integrity • Honesty • Fair • Consistent • Take responsibility • Treat people with respect 17
18. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lead & Serve Others Myths • No limit to the number of people you can manage. • People don’t need feedback. • Measure busy-ness, not outcomes. • Managers want to know the people are engaged. • Thinking isn't work. • Performance reviews or other evaluations are useful. (They are not. They damage relationships and performance.) • People don’t need credit for their work. • Hiring shortcuts are fine. • People are resources. (No, they are not.) • We need experts for this work. • Promote the best technical person to be a manager • You can keep even marginally-useful people on a team. 18
19. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman When Managers Don’t Lead & Serve… • Incongruent • Lack of respect • Insufficient empathy • Work feels like drudgery 19
20. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for Leading and Serving Others • Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization. What value does your team offer? • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Offer autonomy, mastery, purpose. • Build a safe environment. Teach feedback and coaching. • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. Use flow efficiency. • Encourage experiments and learning. • Catch people succeeding. • Exercise your value-based integrity. 20
21. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lead and Serve Others: From Individual to Team 21
22. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3. Great Managers Lead for Innovation 22 “...every organization---not just businesses--- needs one core competence: innovation.” — Peter Drucker
23. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Where Do Managers Spend Time? 23
24. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Organizational Leadership Myths • Great management looks easy so it is easy • Treat everyone the same way • Performance management creates employee engagement (It does not!) • Comparing teams is useful • “Friendly” competition is constructive • 100% utilization works • No time for training • It’s okay to move people wherever they need to go, whenever the manager wants. • Lower salaries means lower project cost • Manage by spreadsheet • It’s a great idea to standardize on how people work (especially their agile approach.) 24
25. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Embrace the Organization’s “Messiness” • Define the organization’s “Why” • Iterate on the strategy • Plan for change 25
26. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Innovation Principles • Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization. Why does your organization exist? • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Reduce bureaucracy. • Build a safe environment. How easy is it to disagree on anything? • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. Fulfill the why. • Encourage experiments and learning. • Catch people succeeding. • Exercise your value-based integrity. 26
27. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lead an Innovative Organization: From Managing Change to Managing for Change 27
28. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Culture Drives Behaviors • Kurt Lewin said: B = f(P, E) • People (P) perceive the environment (E) • We choose to Behave (B) in ways that fit the environment • What does your organization reward? • Individual work (resource efficiency) • Team-based work (flow efficiency) 28
29. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Managers Create & Refine the Culture • For everyone as individuals, in teams, and in groups • (Schein discusses artifacts, values, and assumptions) • How people treat each other • What people can discuss • How the manager and organization rewards people 29
30. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman “The Culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.” — Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch.3 (2015) 30
31. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Build Your Agile Management Habits • Progress, not perfection!! • Behaviors before beliefs • Start with yourself • Remember that people remember how you make them feel • If you don’t know the “why” nothing else matters. 31
32. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn • Modern Management Made Easy (in- progress): • https://leanpub.com/b/ modernmanagementmadeeasy 32